Salat or Muslim's prayer is an essential part of muslims' worships. ProphetMuhammad said that the Salat is the pillar of our religion. So it is importantfor every muslim to know how to pray. This page is created to help thosemuslims, new-muslims, non-mulims, and youth to learn the basics of howto prayer. Please read the
disclaimerfirst, this is a short version of the teachings, a more detailed one can be found here. Hope to be helpful.

The first thing to know about prayer is that it's very simple and there are manyexeptions for those who have difficulties; however, while performing prayer fullconcentration and attention is required.

There are five required daily prayers for every muslim. Each prayer consist of several Rakats (parts) depending to the time it is performed for. The Dawn 2 Rakat (fajr), Noon 4 rakat(duhr), Afternoon 4 rakat (asr), Sunset 3 rakat (magreb), and Night 4 rakat(esha) prayers. Total of 17 rakats a day to the direction of Ka'ba (North-eastin north america). It seems too much and too long but when you learn how todo it and undrestand why you do it, it is going to be very enjoyable.

The time for Fajr prayer is from dawn to time of sunrise. The time for Duhr andAsr prayer is from noon to sunset, and the time for Magreb and Esha prayer isfrom sunset to midnight.

How to Pray

It is impossible to explain how to pray in short article like thisand it is a big responsiblilty to teach people something this important. However, the greater responsibility is to introduce the basic and leave the researchfor the reader. Before praying you have to make a
wodho, be sure you are pure and clean,and your dress is appropriate(research more about this part). Ladies should weara clothe where only their face, hands (to the wrist, not arms) and their feet (to theirankle) is shown, and male are required to cover their body appropriatly as well.

Neiat and Ghera'at

Neiat or intention is the most important part of the prayer. By this you say thatwhy you are standing for prayer, which prayer, how many rakats. You can sayit loud or in your mind.

For example: I will pray the salat al-Fajr, two ra'akat, gurbatanela-laah, (to get closer to Allah).

It doesn't matter what language you say it, as long as you have the intention.This is the way you should stand and put your hands during this stage:

(fig 1)

Then you do your Takbiratul-Ehram (saying Allah Akbar)and drop your hands, from ears to your laps. Now you entered prayer officially and from this point till salam you can't talk, eat, or move out of prayer's form. Start your prayer byreading Al-Hamd and the sura (fig 2). You have to say everything in arabicand learning it is very easy just need practice, you can ask some of the Muslims orpeople who know arabic to read the right pronounciation for you, or click on the photo to listen to it. In this part you wouldread two chapters, Reading the chapter
al-Hamd is necessary but chossing the surais up to you, people read the chapter of
Ekhlas mostly. The way to stand and read isin the figure 2.

(fig 2)

Rakat

Rakat consist of Gera'at (reading of the al-hamd and sura, or Tasbeehat al-Arba'a),one Ruku'e, and two Sajda.

Ruku'e

After you read the Al-hamd and sura you bend by placing your hands on your knees and looking between your legs, this is called Ruku'e. And you saya Thekr (praise to allah). To make it easy on the biginners you would saySubhan-allah 3 times or you can refer to the people who pray for their thekr. Fig 3explains how you have to do this part.

(fig 3)

Qunut

Qunut is the part you raise your hand and ask allah for what you need youcan say it in any language or just say a short grace in arabic. Qunut is performed after the Al-hamd and Sura recitation of the second rakat and it is not required (vajeb) but is Mustahab (recommended). The way to do thispart is explained in figure 4.

(fig 4)

Sajda

After Ruku'e you stand straight like you started and then go to Sajda. In this part you prostrate to allah. That means you place seven part of your bodytouching the ground and say a thekr similar to the one in Ruku'e, your forehead,palms, knees, and your toes. Your forhead should be on a wooden or stone made object(see more details on this part). You did one Sajda, like in fig 5, you sit like your inTashahood, and do another one after that.

(fig 5)

TashahudAfter performing your second sojda on the second rakat of every prayer and the last rakat of the particular prayer your performing, you perform Tashahud.In this part you would sit in a way that your left foot is on your right and yourpalms are on your thighs. And you read
Tashahood in arabic (see fig 6). This partis to be performed on every two Rakats and before you finish salat. Example if youare doing the Dohr, Asr, and Esha prayers which are four Rakats you do Tashahood in the end ofsecond Rakat and at the end of fourth Rakat before saying the Salam. And if youpraying the Maghreb prayer which is three Rakat's you do Tashahood at the endof second Rakat and the third Rakat before finishing the prayer. The meaning of it is:

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, He is one and noone is like him, And I bear witness that Mohammad is his conformer(Ab'd) and his messanger, O'Allah send greetings to Mohammad andthe Family of Mohammad.

(fig 6)

Salam

This is the end part of salat and by reciting this part you officially end your prayer. You would read it at the end of the last Rakat (after the second sajda) and youfinish your prayer. After reading it you would raise your palms from your thigh andsay Allah'u Akbar and put your hands back on the thighs for three times (see fig 7).You read it in Arabic and pronunciaion is
here. The meaning of the reading it is

Greetings to us and to the faithful (Saleheen) conformers'of allah, Greetings and Mercy of Allah be onto you.

(fig 7)

Tasbeehat' al-Arba'a

This part is for prayers other than Fajr prayer which have more than 2 Rakats and itreplaces the reading of Al-hamd and the Sura. You can say this thekr (prefered) oryou can simply read the Al-hamd chapter only with low voice. This is the pronunciation of the thekr:

Which means clean and pure is Allah, and thanks to Allah, and no god but allah, andAllah is great. There is four parts to it and that is why it is called Tasbeehat al-Arba'a.You can say this thekr only once or three times.

Hope you read this page very carefully, and ask others for clarification and the rightArabic pronunciation or listen to the audio files accompanied by the photos. There are a lot of things to be learned and done before any onecan start the prayer so here is a list you should research on first:

Purity for men, purity for women, Gossl, Tayam'um, Wodo,...

Please read the section on disclaimer and feel free to contact us any time for any question. You can also see another more detailed version of these teachings by clicking
here.